


Ants In One's Stomach

by TheAzureFox



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, chocobros with chocobos, i am in love with chocobos, they are so cute give me 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-19 06:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22840192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAzureFox/pseuds/TheAzureFox
Summary: Noctis, in all his princely grace, gets jealous over a goddamnchocobo.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 11
Kudos: 129





	Ants In One's Stomach

**Author's Note:**

> hewwo new fandom who dis

The Chocobo Outpost is serene at this time in the morning.

Sunshine peers in through the covering of a canopy, dappling the forest beneath with splotches of gold. A heavy breeze runs through the air, chasing away the cloying scent of chocobo dung and gyashi greens that runs perpetually through the outpost’s stables.

Basking in the onslaught of warmth provided by the sun, Noctis carries his way through the giant corral of metal fencing that encircles him. At his side is his retainers - Ignis with a basket of greens on his arms and Gladio with a groan rumbling through his throat – and up ahead is one babbling Prompto.

“Chocobos!” He crows with the merry glee of a little kid let out to play. His face is lit like a lightbulb, lips pulled up into the biggest grin Noctis has even seen on him as he jumps forward. “Six how I _missed_ chocobos!”

The birds in question - four fine feathered beasts of the most luxurious yellow Noctis has ever seen – coo at the arrival of their beloved renters, fluffing their feathers as they chirp in greeting.

Among the bunch, the biggest immediately comes to greet Noctis, practically prancing up to him as he shakes his tail feathers and prods at Noctis’s hands, begging. The boy reaches over to the basket on Ignis’s arms, picking out a handful of green slimy-feeling leaves as he holds them out in offering. His chocobo companion – the chocobo he rides most – bobs his head in appreciation, gulping up the greens in a quick few pecks.

Noctis laughs at that, ruffling the feathers of his companion, and the bird reciprocates by nuzzling against his cheek.

“Looks like he likes you,” Ignis comments languidly, a hand on the head of his own chocobo as it tries to raid his basket.

“Not as much as Prompto’s does,” Gladio says with a snort, jerking his head in the direction of Prompto and his aforementioned bird. “That chocobo’s practically in love with him.”

Noctis turns his gaze in the direction of the bird in question, raising his eyebrows as he observes.

Prompto, heedless to the three stares cast suddenly in his direction, is ruffling the feathers of his chocobo, giggling as he hugs the creature tight and nuzzles against her neck. Noctis can practically see the hearts wafting off of the boy as he coos over his bird, running his fingers through the crest on her head and happily feeding her the greens he’s secreted from the pockets of his jacket.

“Who’s a good girl?” Prompto asks his chocobo companion, voice the same kind of high-pitched tone that one might give their cat. “You are! Yes you are!”

His chocobo flaps her wings, chortling in pleasure at the praise, and when she butts her head against Prompto’s forehead, Noctis finds himself smiling.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a gal pal,” Noctis says to Prompto, approaching the boy with his chocobo tailing quietly beside him.

“Isn’t she precious?” Prompto asks, patting his bird’s neck and cooing some more. “She is _just_ the _cutest._ ”

The female chocobo preens at that, looking quite pleased. Noctis raises up a hand casually to touch her, intent on praising her all the same, when she suddenly turns her head towards him and snaps at his hand.

He pulls back before her beak bites off his fingers, smarting as he looks to Prompto. The boy looks just as stunned as him, shooting his bird friend a chiding look as he says: “Bad girl!”

The chocobo turns her head to look at him, whining with obvious puppy-dog eyes worn on her face, and Prompto melts in no time. He hugs her yet again, giving in to the cuteness of chocobos, and Noctis kind of finds himself shifting from foot to foot as his mind unwillingly thinks: _shit, I want to be hugged like that._

It’s an embarrassing thought, one that he stomps down quickly. After all, he doesn’t need thoughts about how his best friend smothering him in his arms would feel. He definitely doesn’t need to think about how Prompto would be hugging him close, smelling of forest and pine needles, or how Prompto might nuzzle against him the way he’s nuzzling his chocobo now.

Nope.

Those thoughts just simply don’t exist. They just. Do not.

Even if the slight burning on the tips of his ears says otherwise.

Still, Noctis doesn’t quite appreciate this chocobo’s attitude. Especially not when she turns to give him a triumphant look full of meaning, practically doing the equivalent of sticking one’s tongue out as she glowers gleefully at him.

Astrals, he’s probably never wanted to deck a chocobo as much as he does now.

He runs his hands through his hair, rolling his eyes at the snide bird, and makes a move to approach Prompto. However, as if sensing his intentions, the chocobo squawks at him, pulling her neck from Prompto’s hands in order to situate herself between the two boys. She towers over him, menacing, and he can only glare at her.

He tries to skirt around her, testing his boundaries, but Prompto’s chocobo only clucks in outrage and follows in time to his steps, blocking him from meeting with the boy.

He tries moving the other way but to no avail. The oversized pigeon follows him that way too, acting as a perpetual cockblock as the pair of them circle Prompto.

“Seems she has no intentions of handing Prompto over,” Ignis says, his voice smooth but with an undeniable hint of pure amusement smothered underneath.

Noctis scoffs. He steps forward. The chocobo hisses, jumping up and driving him back lest he get his neck snapped in two by her clicking beak.

“Woah, woah!” Prompto scurries over to his chocobo’s side, patting her neck and scowling. “Noct’s a friend, okay girl? He’s my buddy. Don’t just chase him away like that!”

Noctis looks at the bird, tilting his head up. “Yeah. I mean no harm. I’m his _buddy_ after all.”

The chocobo looks displeased by that fact, clucking and shaking her tail feathers with a look that can only be described as _pouting._ He steps forward, intent on grabbing Prompto in a show of dominance over this stupid bird, when she turns around and butts her head against Prompto, casually kicking her back leg out to send him tumbling to the ground.

Prompto is too preoccupied by his _lovely, gorgeous, precious_ (his words not Noctis’s) bird that when he has the chance to finally stop fawning over her, he takes the time to notice that Noctis has fallen butt-first into the ground. The boy peers at him curiously, eyebrows raising in something halfway between confusion and amusement, and when Noctis gets to his feet, grumbling, Prompto only seems to grin.

“Did you trip over your own feet or something, Your Highness?” Prompto asks, propping his elbows on the downward sloping neck of his chocobo and settling his chin on the top of his hands. “That’s not like you.”

Noctis shoots a glare at the sneer on the face of what can only be a mutant chicken with the cunning of a daemon. “Your _pigeon_ kicked me to the ground.”

An indignant squawk. Noctis revels in it.

“Aw, don’t be like that. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” Prompt strokes his chocobo’s neck lovingly.

“Yeah Noct, surely she didn’t mean it.”

There’s a snicker to Gladio’s voice that has Noctis glaring at him.

Ignis, for his part, says nothing. But Noctis doesn’t miss the smirk on his face. So, the boy glares at him, too, unwilling to let the man be spared his wrath.

Unconcerned by the squabbles of his chocobo and his best friend, Prompto begins combing his chocobo’s feathers with his fingers. The bird seems to melt at the touch, positively cheered by it, and Noctis can’t stop the pout that forms on his face as Ignis comes beside him.

“Come on, Your Highness,” Ignis says, unable to keep the slight inflection of a laugh from his voice, “it’s just a bird. A prince such as yourself shouldn’t be stooped so easily.”

The words invigorate him. He nods, rolling up his sleeves as he hops to his feet, and when Prompto’s chocobo makes a move to defend her favorite renter, he sneers.

Without saying a word, Noctis warps forward, circumventing the oversized chicken’s defenses as he grabs Prompto’s wrist, pulls him close, and then casually warps the both of them outside of the corral.

Prompto lands beside him, a stagger in his step that is only stopped by Noctis’s tight grip.

Noctis’s nemesis of a bird squawks, baffled by the disappearance of her owner, and when she spots Prompto by Noctis’s side she flaps her wings, shouts, and then charges straight for him.

Her feathered head slides into the metal fence, sending her recoiling with a cry of hurt, and when she recovers, snorting smoke from her nostrils, she sends Noctis a murderous glare.

“Hey, dude, woah,” Prompto looks between the pair. “What are you doing? Why did you warp me like that?”

“Time to go,” the black-haired boy says with a shrug. “It didn’t look like your chocobo was going to part with you so I took the initiative of stealing you away.”

There’s a pause. Then, Prompto is flicking his gaze between the bird and Noctis, eyebrows raising quickly as he says: “Dude, are you _jealous_ of a _chocobo?_ ”

Somewhere off in the distance in front of them, Gladio is flat out chortling with peals of laughter while Ignis is hiding a smile with the back of his hand.

Noctis hates them both.

“No!” He says. Quickly. Too quickly. “Why would you think that?”

“You are!” Prompto shouts, casually bumping a fisted hand against Noctis’s shoulder as the boy’s ears flare red. The blond-haired boy is laughing hard now, seemingly pleased by the revelation, and when Noctis shoves his hands into his pockets, turning away, he hears Prompto laugh harder.

“You’re going to die of oxygen deprivation if you keep that up,” he warns with a petulant tone.

“O-Oh m-man, you…you really?” Prompto hops to his side, brushing away tears with his hands. He looks back at the chocobo waiting for him, grinning, and then to Noctis again and slings an arm around the boy. The touch is stupidly warm. It makes Noctis’s body flush with pleasure. “Don’t worry, buddy. You’re still my best friend. No one can replace you. Not even my favorite chocobo pal.”

Noctis looks to him. Prompto’s face is red, eyes shining with tear shed from merciless glee. He looks pretty like that, freckles dotting a canvas of red and white intertwined into the expression of an exasperated blush. Noctis’s stomach flutters with ants (Yes, ants. Not butterflies. Because butterflies would mean he’s in love with his best friend and he’s most certainly not, thank you very much) and he scuffs his shoes against the dirt underneath, not knowing what to say.

“Don’t tease our prince too much, Prompto,” Gladio says as he joins them, parting ways with his chocobo to step outside the corral. “After all, how he’s supposed to face the press if they knew his best friend was stolen away so easily by one lowly chicken?”

There’s another squawk from Prompto’s chocobo. The thing looks pitiful, sulking against the fence, but Noctis can only feel triumphant in the face of his exploits.

“Indeed,” Ignis falls in line with Gladio, having abandoned his chocobo as well. “And it would be even more of a shame if this incident became something of legend to a future lover.”

“ _Ignis,_ ” Noctis hisses, feeling red mar his face at the oh-so-subtle implications.

The man gives an unapologetic shrug.

Prompto keeps wheezing beside him, still caught up on the high of amusement. Thankfully, it seems like his fit of laughter has made him miss the stupid shade of crimson that is now bleeding dry from Noctis’s face.

“You know bud,” Prompto says, butting his elbow against Noctis’s right arm, “there’s nothing to be jealous of. I’ll pick you over a chocobo any day.”

There’s an obvious lilt of teasing to the boy’s voice, a passing note of glee folded into the fabric of a jest, but Noctis can’t help but feel the ants in his stomach jump with joy. He bumps his elbow back against Prompto’s, reveling in the revelation that, at the very least, he has totally not lost to an oversized chicken when it comes to being close to Prompto.

“Swear on it?” Noctis says, grinning widely as he holds up a fist.

“Man, you know I’d go to the ends of the earth for you,” Prompto bumps his own fist to Noctis’s. “Of course I swear on it!”

And, with that, Noctis feels a coil of pleasure overtake him as he grabs Prompto’s hand, laughing, and drags him forward through the winding roads of the Chocobo Outpost. His best friend yelps, seemingly surprised by Noctis’s sudden action, but all Noctis can think about is laughing madly as he drags his friend through a field of grass, elation riding through him like a forbidden high.

Chocobos or not, Prompto is his best friend. His closest friend. And, as he holds Prompto’s hand tightly in his, sporting a heart fluttering helplessly in his chest, perhaps he can admit with just the tiniest bit of sincerity that he would love to be more than friends.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, I have actually not played through FFXV yet. But I plan to, soon enough (this weekend, actually!). I know only a few things about the game (I’ve seen Brotherhood, pieces of Kingsglaive, some spoilers here and there…Lunafreya…) but I like to think I know enough to get the basic gist of what’s going down in FFXV.
> 
> In other words: I sure AF have no clue how to write the main cast right now but I’m working on it. I promise I’ll come up with something better written when I get a chance to play because I’m sure the boys are wildly OOC as I'm writing them now. I'll be fixing that later when I actually get my hands on the game but for now this is my meager contribution to the fandom gfjhgfhj


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